#Rowing: Commercial and UCD took the senior eights titles at Neptune Regatta in different fashions. Trinity's women's eight led UCD passing the Neptune boat house, but UCD fought hard and passed their great rivals to win by a canvas. Commercial beat UCD by one a half lengths in the men’s race.

On a cool, sunny day, Enniskillen boys competed in numbers – their girls will take part in Sunday’s Commercial Regatta – and had a set of good wins, the pick of them being a three-length win over Colaiste Iognaid in the men’s junior 18 eight.

In a battle of two strong junior 18 quadruples, Three Castles beat Neptune, while Trinity won the club one eight, also beating the hosts.

Two Neptune men, twin brothers Ronan and Colum Brennan, fought it out in the men’s junior singles, with Ronan coming out on top.

Rhiannon O’Donoghue of Killorglin beat Commercial’s Katie Dolan in the women’s club one single – Dolan had earlier won the senior single.

Neptune Regatta, Islandbridge, Saturday (Selected Results)

Men

Eight, Sen: Commercial bt UCD 1 ½ l. Club One: Trinity bt Neptune 3l. Novice: UCD bt Trinity A canvas. Jun 18: Enniskillen bt Col Iognaid 3l. Jun 16: Col Iognaid bt Blackrock 3ft.

Four – Club One, coxed: Enniskillen bt Neptune Jun 18, coxed: Enniskillen B bt Enniskillen A 2½ l. Masters, coxed: Commercial, Belfast BC, Galway bt Neptune.

Sculling, Quadruple – Club Two, coxed: Fermoy A bt Neptune 1l. Jun 18: Three Castles bt Neptune. Jun 18, coxed: Enniskillen A bt Enniskillen B. Jun 16, coxed: Cork. Double – Jun 16: Athlone bt Neptune A. Single – Sen: New Ross (Kennell-Webb bt Portadown (Laivins). Club One: Enniskillen (N Timoney) bt Enniskillen (J McDade) easily. Club Two: Trinity (Dennis) bt Carlow (Bolton-Dowling) . Jun 18: Neptune (R Brennan) bt Neptune (C Brennan) easily. Jun 16: Carlow (D Nolan) bt Neptune (A Gillick) easily.

Women

Eight – Sen: UCD bt Trinity canvas. Club One: UCD A bt Neptune. Novice: Trinity A bt Neptune 3l. Jun 16: Castleconnell bt Methody easily. Masters (G) Old Collegians bt Commercial, Belfast BC, Galway. E: Tribesmen A bt Neptune.

Four – Sen, coxed: Killorglin bt Akademiska Roddforeningen 2l. Club One, coxed: Commercial bt UCD B. Jun 18: Col Iognaid bt Carlow easily.

Sculling, Quadruple – Club Two, coxed: Killorglin bt Trinity easily. Jun 18: Athlone bt Graiguenamanagh easily. Jun 16, coxed: Col Iognaid bt Castleconnell.

Double – Jun 16: Shannon A bt Clonmel 3l.

Single – Sen: Commercial (K Dolan) bt New Ross (L Brown) 4l. Club Two: Carlow (Egan) bt Commercial (Norinho) 3l. Jun 18: Commercial (Healy) bt Commercial (Maloney) 2l. Club One: Killorglin (R O’Donoghue) bt Commercial (K Dolan). Jun 16: Three Castles (O’Loughlin) bt Shannon (Hickey).

#Rowing: UCD won the Gannon Cup for senior men and Trinity the Corcoran Cup for senior women at the Colours Races in Dublin today.

Trinity lead early in the Gannon, but once the crews came through Grattan Bridge, UCD pushed into the lead. The lead stood at one length through the next four bridges, but Trinity whittled it to two-thirds from there, making for a good finish. UCD held on to win.

Trinity were outstanding winners of the Corcoran Cup. They carved out a big lead early on and went on to win easily.

UCD’s novice women also built on a good start to win the Sally Moorhead trophy, while Trinity won the men’s novice race and took the Dan Quinn Shield.

Colours Races 2019, Dublin

Gannon Cup (Senior Men): UCD (Rob Brown, Jack Stacey, Andrew Goff, Shane O’Connell, Thomas Earley, Andrew Kelly, Cameron Murphy, David O’Malley; cox: Orlagh Reid) bt Trinity 2/3 l

Corcoran Cup (Senior Women): Trinity (Anna Mangan, Ellen Clohessy, Ruthie McHugh, Jane Hogg, Aoife Corcoran, Erika Deasy, Miriam Kelly, Aoife McGranaghan; cox: Clare White) bt UCD easily

Dan Quinn Shield (Novice Men): Trinity bt UCD 3l

Sally Moorhead Trophy (Novice Women): UCD bt Trinity 3l.

#Rowing: UCD and Old Collegians celebrated their world champions at the UCD Boat Club dinner on the campus on Friday night.

Sanita Puspure, who has been with Old Collegians for a decade, received a special award. The world single sculling champion was also honoured by being named on a new perpetual trophy for the winner of the women’s intermediate single sculls at the Irish Championships.

William Doyle, Trinity captain, and UCD captain Max Murphy look on as Sanita Puspure performs the coin toss for the 2019 Colours races. Photo: Liam Gorman

Puspure also performed the coin toss for the Colours Races, which will be held in early March. UCD men and women both won and opted for the north station. Puspure and her family travelled from their home in Cork for the occasion – and then back again, as Sanita had training in the morning.

David O’Malley and Shane Mulvaney, the under-23 world champions in the lightweight pair, and Andrew Gough, a medallist at the same championships, were honoured. These three, along with Shane O’Connell, formed the UCD four which won at the Irish Championships in 2018. The UCD intermediate eight also won.

In a well-received speech, club captain Max Murphy read out the testaments by UCD rowers recounting what the experience of rowing and interaction with their crewmates meant to them. “People” and “club” were the recurring themes.

#Rowing: Commercial took first and second at the Dublin Head of the River today. UCD took third. The fastest women’s crew was Trinity's senior eight and Commercial were the fastest women's junior 18 eight. Neptune’s boys formed the fastest men’s junior crew. Seventeen eights competed in the official race, with a number of crews also taking to the water on a time-only basis.

Dublin Head of the River, Saturday (All Eights; Selected Results): Men – Senior Eight: Commercial A 10 minutes 54 seconds. Inter: Neptune 11:35. Club: Commercial  12:53. Junior 18: Neptune 12:05. Masters: Neptune 13:08.
Women – Senior: Trinity 12:57. Intermediate: Trinity 14:07. Club: Neptune 14:19. Jun 18: Commercial 13:45.

#Rowing: Commercial won a stunningly-close race to take the men’s senior eights title at the Irish Rowing Championships today. NUIG/Queen’s had a slight lead ahead of a tightly-packed field early on, but Commercial moved at the 1,000 metres. They could not shake off UCD and the NUIG/Queen’s composite. UCD

finished really fast and almost – but not quite – caught Commercial, who were taking their third consecutive title.

The women’s senior eight went to Skibbereen. Their talented crew,   stroked by Denise Walsh, had a clearwater lead over NUIG, who did not give up the fight but finished second. Skibbereen lifted their title haul to eight with the win.

Enniskillen started the evening session with two wins, in the women’s club eight, where Shandon pushed them, and the men’s junior pair, who were imperious in their victory.

The women’s junior coxed quadruple from Workmen’s was similarly impressive – the quality of junior rowing was a remarkable aspect of this regatta.

Another notable aspect was the proportion of wins which went to Cork clubs. Two of the last three titles did not leave the rebel county: UCC finished out their successful programme with a win in the men’s intermediate double through Ronan Byrne and Hugh Sutton, while Selma Bouanane took the last race of the event, the women’s intermediate single, for Fermoy.  

Irish Rowing Championships, Day Three (Selected Results)

Men

Eight – Senior: 1 Commercial (S Mac Eoin, C Cunningham, L Cameron, N Beggan, P Moreau, F Groome, M Corcoran, C Dowling; cox: M Crockett) 5:43.18, 2 UCD 5:43.76, 3 NUIG/Queen’s 5:46.82.

Four – Club, coxed: UCC A 6:38.03.

Pair – Inter: Shandon A 6:56.07. Junior: Enniskillen 6:56.199.

Sculling, Double – Inter: UCC 6:32.59. Junior: Castleconnell (R O’Neill, J Desmond) 6:49.97.

Lightweight Single: Skibbereen (A Burns) 7:20.56.

Women

Eight – Senior: 1 Skibbereen (L Heaphy, O Hayes, M Piggott, A McCarthy, N Long, N Casey, A Casey, D Walsh; cox: A O’Neill) 6:28.42, 2 NUIG A 6:33.32, 3 Trinity 6:48.35. Club: Enniskillen 6:48.33.

Four – Inter, coxed: Cork 7:22.36.

Pair – Junior: Fermoy (E O’Reilly, G McGirr) 7:48.69.

Sculling, Quadruple – Junior: Workmen’s 7:01.06.

Single – Inter: Fermoy (S Bouanane) 8:03.25.

Lightweight Single: 1 Lee (M Cremen) 8:06.97

#Rowing: Records fell in race after race in the final Saturday session of the Irish Championships. The Skibbereen senior quadruple of Fintan McCarthy, Aodhan Burns, Kealan Mannix and Jake McCarthy smashed the Championship best of 5:59.10 as they won in 5:50.696.

The Shandon junior quadruple of Eoin Gaffney, Luke Hayes-Nally, Jack Dorney and Alex Byrne – all set to compete at the World Junior Championships – set a new time of 5:58.26. This beat the old Championship record of 6:07.97.

In both cases the crews were bettering times set by their own club.

Lisa Dilleen’s win in the women’s senior single scull was emphatic. The Cork Boat Club sculler set a Championship course record of 7:34.282, bettering Monika Dukarska’s time of 7:35.07.

Ronan Byrne of UCC took the intermediate single, under some pressure from Niall Beggan of Commercial. Byrne’s time of 6:55.898 bettered Kealan Mannix’s time of 7:03.51, set last year.

Enniskillen took the women’s junior eights, in 6:30.753, bettering their own time from last year of 6:36.24.

In the women’s senior pair, Aine McCarthy and Niamh Casey shattered the old Championship record of 7:23.78, setting a new time of 7:17.176.

Joan Poh of Neptune also won the club single sculls in a new record. The old figure was 8:09.22. Poh won in 8:06.13.

UCD continued their fine run in eights by adding the men’s novice title to the intermediate one.

Irish Championships, Day Two (Selected Results)

Men

Eight – Inter: UCD 5:43.70. Novice: UCD 6:03.599.

Four – Junior, coxed: Enniskillen 6:22.66.

Sculling, Quadruple – Senior: Skibbereen 5:50.696. Jun: 1 Shandon 5:58.26

Single – Inter: UCC (R Byrne) 6:55.898. Club: Carlow (F O’Driscoll) 7:25.3.

Women

Eight – Novice: Queen’s 7:04.49. Jun: Enniskillen 6:30.75.

Pair – Senior: Skibbereen 7:17.18.

Sculling, Double – Inter: Skibbereen 7:09.09. Single – Senior: Cork BC (L Dilleen) 7:34.28. Club: Neptune (J Poh) 8:06.1. Jun: Coleraine GS (M Curry) 7:53.46.

#Rowing: Paul O’Donovan and Gary O’Donovan were tested in the men’s double sculls by Jake and Fintan McCarthy at Cork Regatta today. The two Skibbereen crews fought it out down the course with the twins not letting the O’Donovan brothers build a clear-water lead. At the end the McCarthy’s pushed, and there was less than a length in it.

UCD’s four were impressive winners. The crew of Shane O’Connell, Andrew Goff, Shane Mulvaney and David O’Malley left Commercial behind.

The Skibbereen/Lee combination of Denise Walsh and Margaret Cremen were also in charge in the women’s double. Behind them the junior double from Workmen’s won a battle for second.

Cork Regatta, Day Two (Selected Results)

Men

Four – Div One: 1 UCD (S O’Connell, A Goff, S Mulvaney, D O’Malley; sen) 6:33.45, 2 Commercial (sen) 6:38.28, 3 Shandon (sen) 6:46.05. Four, coxed – Div Two: 1 UCC (club two) 7:00.73; 6 St Joseph’s 7:19.29. C Final: 3 St Michael’s (jun 16) 7:40.34.

Sculling, Double – Div One: 1 Skibbereen A (G O’Donovan, P O’Donovan; sen) 6:46.14, 2 Skibbereen B (sen) 6:47.68; 4 Queen’s (inter) 7:15.57. B Final: Castleconnell (jun 18A) 7:19.86. C Final: 5 Belfast RC (club one) 7:57.44.

Single – Div Two: 1 Kenmare (T Kelly; jun 16) 8:01.71, 2 New Ross (jun 18B) 8:03.67, 3 Workmen’s (club two) 8:04.995.  

Women

Sculling, Double – Div One: 1 Skibbereen, Lee (M Cremen, D Walsh; sen) 7:42.97, 2 Workmen’s (jun 18A) 7:56.34, 3 Fermoy (inter) 7:57.45. B Final: 4 Fermoy Castleconnell (club one) 8:17.57.

#Rowing: Skibbereen won three of the four Division One titles on offer in the first session of finals at Cork Regattat at the National Rowing Centre. However, the final of the men’s pair belonged to David O’Malley and Shane Mulvaney of UCD. They raced well in the hot weather and finished well clear of Skibbereen’s Shane O’Driscoll and Mark O’Donovan.

Gary O’Donovan followed his brother Paul O’Donovan over the line in the men’s single sculls, while Denise Walsh got the better of Cork’s Lisa Dilleen in the women’s single.

The women’s pair was won by Aine McCarthy and Niamh Casey of Skibbereen.

Cork Regatta, National Rowing Centre (Selected Results)

Men

Eight – Div Two: Neptune (club two) 6:22.95; 4 Trinity (nov) 6:34.32; 5 Col Iognaid (jun 16) 6:35.63; 6 Shandon (jun 18B) 6:43.79.

Pair – Div One: 1 UCD (S Mulvaney, D O’Malley; sen) 6:53.31, 2 Skibbereen (M O’Donovan, S O’Driscoll; sen) 6:59.98, 3 Enniskillen (jun 18A) 7:06.75; 6 Cork A (inter) 7:23.68. B Final: 6 Neptune A (club one) 7:24.50.

Single Sculls: 1 Skibbereen (P O’Donovan; sen) 6:59.73. B Final: UCC (H Sutton; lwt) 7:20.63. C Final: 1 Shandon (E Gaffney; jun 18A) 7:28.92; 2 Queen’s (N Hull; inter) 7:29.86

Women

Pair – Div One: 1 Skibbereen (A McCarthy, N Casey; sen) 7:49.73; 4 Col Iognaid (Jun 18A) 8:07.86; Shandon (club one) 8:08.78. C Final: 4 Shandon (inter) 8:36.00.

Sculling, Quadruple – Div Two: 1 Cork A (club two) 7:50.05; 3 Carlow (jun 16) 8:03.97. B Final: Carlow (jun 18B) 8:13.43; 4 Queen’s (nov) 8:25.47.

#Rowing: Two NUIG crews made it through time trials on the first day of Henley Women’s Regatta and will compete on Saturday. In the Championship Eight, NUIG will take on Yale University (scheduled for 2.40), while the Development Coxed Four have been drawn to take on Aberdeen C at 2.04. Tribesmen were allowed only to compete in the time trial of the Championship Eight.

 Three Irish crews made their exits: UCD’s eight, the four from Queen’s University and Cork’s Boat Club’s Championship Double. Commercial’s Championship Lightweight Pair have a bye into the semi-final and go into action first on Sunday (10.20).  

Henley Women’s Regatta (Irish interest)

Friday

Championship Eight: NUIG made it through Time Trial.

Aspirational Academic Eight: Bath Univ/Bristol Univ bt UCD, 2 ½ l.

Aspirational Academic Four: Exeter Univ bt Queen’s A, nro

Development Coxed Four: NUIG made it through Time Trial.

Championship Doubles: Leander bt Cork A (C Deasy, J Rigothi) 4 ½ l.

#Rowing: Shandon’s intermediate eight were the fastest crew at the Metropolitan Regatta today. Commercial’s intermediate eight scratched, but UCD’s club one eight gave the young Corkmen a good race – until the final few hundred metres, when Shandon flew away. All of the Shandon crew are junior 18 athletes.

 As had been the case in the first session, young rowers came home first in race after race in the superb conditions. Lara Brown of New Ross added the Division One single sculls title to the doubles win she had recorded with Shona Tierney.

Metropolitan Grand League Regatta, Blessington, Saturday (Selected Results; course length between 1750 and 1800m)

Men

Eight – Division One: Shanddon (intermediate) 4:57.91, 2 UCD (club one) 5:02.20. Div Two: Neptune (club two) 5:40.496.

Four – Div One: Commercial A (sen) 5:36.26. Four, coxed – Div One: 1 Commercial (sen) 5:55.01, 2 Shandon (jun 18A) 5:55.99, 3  Commercial (inter) 5:56.41; 5 UCD (club one) 6:02.82. Div Two: UCD A (club two) 5:50.77, 2 Shandon (jun 18B) 5:57.32

Pair – Div One: Commercial (inter) 6:07.65, 2 Commercial (sen) 6:14.6. B Final: 2 Castleconnell 6:25.78; 4 Belfast RC (club one) 6:43.92.

Sculling, Quadruple – Div Two, coxed: Shandon (jun 18B) 5:53.59, 2 Neptune (nov) 5:56.17, 3 Neptune (club two) 5:56.73.

Double – Div One: Castleconnell (jun 18A) 5:47.98; 6 Belfast RC (club one) 6:18.11. Div Two: Cappoquin (club two) 6:03.10; 2 Neptune (jun 18B) 6:03.44. B Final: Commercial C 6:44.69. Single – Div One: Shandon (J Dorney; jun 18A) 6:34.78, 2 St Michael’s (D O’Connor; sen) 6:37.81. B Final: Three Castles (T McKnight; inter) 6:47.52; 5 Commercial (J Casey; club one) 7:11.88. Div Two: Neptune (T Orlic; jun 16) 6:47. 76, 2 Clonmel (O’Donnell; club two) 6:49.48, 3 St Michael’s (O’Gorman; jun 18B) 7:00.84.

Women

Eight – Div Two: UCD (club two) 5:57.43; 4 Commercial (jun 16) 6:39.69. Four, coxed – Div Two: Neptune (club two) 6:56.77.

Pair – Div One: Castleconnell (jun 18) 7:14.24.

Sculling, Quadruple – Div Two, coxed: Commercial (jun 16) 6:51.87, 2 Neptune (club two) 6:54.06, 3 Fermoy (nov) 6:54.57; 6 Commercial (jun 18B) 7:49.09.

Double – Div One: New Ross (jun 18A) 6:43.13; 3 Neptune (club one) 6:48.66; 4 St Michael’s (sen) 7:05.97. Div Two: Carlow (jun 16) 7:11.58, 2 Neptune (club two) 7:36.47.

Single – Div One: New Ross (S Tierney; jun 18A) 7:06.03; 3 Garda (J Ryan; inter) 7:13.48. Div Two: Neptune (J Poh; club two) 7:18.24; 3 Three Castles (E Irwin; jun 16) 7:33.89.